The S-rank mission
by Blazej1998
Summary: Naruto, Sakura, Kakashi and Neji are sent on a mission to kill a rogue ninja from the hidden leaf. But can the two Jonin, Chunin and Genin handle an S-rank criminal? This is my first ever fanfic so please read and review. I want to know whether I should carry on writing fanfics. ENJOY :D Rated T for violent scenes.


The sun shone brightly in the sky over the hidden leaf village; the gentle summer breeze swayed blades of grass frivolously. Naruto lay on the grass and gazed at the clouds above; reminiscing of the times he has had with the former team 7. Had. Former. The words that caused a sense of despair within Naruto. The words that reminded him of the loss of Sasuke: his friend, comrade and brother-like figure, now in the hands of the Akatsuki, the criminals responsible for the upcoming ninja world war. Naruto was determined to bring Sasuke back, not only for his own sake, but also for the girl he loved: Sakura. Her words rang in his ears - 'Naruto. This is a once in a lifetime request. Please bring Sasuke back to me.' Her voice was muffled by tears. This was three years ago… Yet, he had no intention of breaking his promise. It was his ninja way. Tears trickled down his cheek. Naruto snapped his head back in frustration; his sadness suddenly replaced by anger.

"Why am I so weak?" he said to himself through gritted teeth, his voice wavering uncontrollably, fists clenching tighter every second. Suddenly the sound of snapping branches filled his ears. He rubbed his eyes abruptly with the sleeve of his black and orange jumper and scanned for the person nearby. It was Sakura. Her bright pink hair danced in the wind. Green eyes, bright as ever, and the smile she had whenever he'd see her made Naruto happy. Although… It seemed strange that she would come to see him now, especially when she was in charge of medicinal supplies for the ninja war.

"Hey Naruto. Enjoying your day off?" She asked, clearly trying not to mention his red eyes.

"You could say that. Kinda hard not doing anything for once," Naruto snickered as his hands wandered through his golden hair.

"Well, Lady Tsunade wants to speak to us. Sorry to be bothering you on your day off but it's supposedly a high rank mission, so the Genin aren't qualified to go on such a mission. The Chunin and Jonin have to stay in the village to discuss battle strategies with the ninja council," Sakura explained in her 'matter of fact' tone. Naruto considered this for a moment and smirked.

"Aren't I a Genin and aren't you a Chunin…?" Naruto said. Sakura raised an eyebrow.

"Lady Tsunade knows that you've missed the Chunin exams because of your training with master Jiraiya, and Shizune will take my place in preparing medicine for the war. And we don't need to be in the ninja council meeting seeing as neither of us will be on the frontlines in the battlefield. Satisfied with that explanation?" She sighed.

"Actual…" before Naruto finished his sentence Sakura had smashed a fist into his face. He collapsed in a heap on the grass and groaned in pain.

"You know, I forgot how strong you are. That training with Tsunade is really paying off," he whimpered and forced a smirk through his pain. He stood up and rubbed his cheek gently.

"Let's go. We don't have much time. Lady Tsunade has a ninja council meeting in half an hour and I told her that we'd be in her office… five minutes ago," she said.

"Well, maybe if you hadn't punched me things would've been easier," Naruto mumbled. Sakura merely raised an eyebrow and began walking towards the Hokage's office. Naruto ran after her and she smiled when he caught up. Together they made their way to Tsunade's office.

Standing outside the Hokage's office always gave Naruto butterflies in his stomach. The massive door with 'HOKAGE' written on it with bold black letters almost intimidated him. He remembered all the times he stood in front of this door, waiting in agony to be punished for something stupid he'd done. He has grown up a lot since then, but the memories still made him smile. Sakura gave the door three sturdy knocks and Tsunade's voice could be heard through it, allowing them to enter.

As usual, Tsunade sat behind her solid, wooden desk, which had the Hokage seal engraved on the front. The mountains of paper work never seemed to have gone from her desk, nor had the small bottle of sake and shot glass. Shizune, the Hokage's attendant, stood behind Tsunade with her pet pig clutched tightly in her arms, trying to shuffle through odd pieces of paper while making sure that Tsunade's pig doesn't escape her grasp.

"I'm glad that you two have made it here so early," Tsunade said sarcastically, clearly frustrated with the irresponsibility of the two ninja that stood before her.

"Sorry about that my Lady, it took me a while to find Naruto. He wasn't at Ichiraku ramen which made things slightly hard for me," Sakura replied earnestly.

"I'm not here to listen to your excuses. Anyway, I have a mission for you two and Kakashi sensei will be your squad leader. He will be excused of his responsibilities as a Jonin as this will be a particularly dangerous mission. Also, you will be joined by Neji as soon as he returns from his current mission. A sensory type ninja will be essential for this mission and his combat skills will also come in handy," she said. She rested her chin on her hands and looked at the two in front of her. She was worried about sending them on such a dangerous mission, but she knew that they were the only ones who could do it. Neither of their faces showed a sign of worry as of yet, neither did they have any questions, so she continued.

"As you know, many shinobi oppose the alliance. This includes some very experienced ninja from the hidden leaf. A group of them left the village recently and have been attacking smaller shinobi villages in the land of fire. They must be stopped. Most of them are failures that never really became fully fledged shinobi. However, their leader is one of the leaf's most powerful ninja. Takeru…" At this point both Naruto and Sakura gasped. Tsunade's eternally youthful face turned into a frown and began to wonder whether the young ninja could handle such a daunting task.

"Judging by your reactions, I expect that both of you know who he is. However, it's still my responsibility to give you a full briefing. So, before Takeru left, he was one of the best ninja in the ANBU division. He is able to use all five chakra natures efficiently and is extremely dangerous. Your mission will be to find him, and kill him before he destroys any more innocent shinobi villages." There were a few seconds of silence before Tsunade spoke again.

"This is an S rank mission and I understand if either of you will refuse to participate," she said solemnly.

"Nahhhh. We can do it, right Sakura? I mean we've been through worse before with the Akatsuki and all," Naruto said cheerfully. Sakura wasn't as confident as Naruto was. She always doubted her fighting skills and doubted that she could handle such a mission. But she didn't want to disappoint Naruto. After all the years of being saved by him, she wanted to prove that she's just as strong as anyone. She was trained by one of the legendary Sannin after all.

"I agree. I believe that we can do it my Lady," Sakura said as confidently as she could muster.

"I'm glad to hear that. Your mission will take place in two days. Both of you are to do no work and be well rested for your departure. You can go and rest now," Tsunade smiled and motioned them towards the door.

"Thanks grandma Tsunade. Talk to you later. Come on Sakura let's go celebrate with a bowl of ramen." Sakura only managed a brief wave to Tsunade before she was dragged out by Naruto.

"They grow up so quickly," Tsunade said to Shizune, smiling.

Nothing really happened for the next two days. Naruto and Sakura would go around the village, making sure that everything was running smoothly, even though the Hokage told them to rest, they felt bad to not help at such a crucial time. After their round of the village, they would have dinner at Ichiraku's and go home for a good night's sleep.

The morning of the mission had come quickly and Naruto, Sakura, Neji and Kakashi were gathered at the hidden leaf gate, attempting to think of a strategic way to move through the forest. In the end, they decided to allow Neji take the front as he could detect any traps or enemy ninja with his Byakugan. Naruto and Sakura would be stationed in the middle. And Kakashi would be at the back, ensuring that they weren't ambushed from behind.

"Are you all ready to go now?" Kakashi asked the Jonin, Chunin and Genin standing before him.

"Yes sir," they replied in unison and headed for the forest outside the hidden leaf.

Jumping from tree to tree was always something that appealed to Naruto. The rush of wind he felt and the occasional branch that smacked him in the face. It would've been nicer if the treetops hadn't been blocking out the sunlight, but that's life.

Travelling in a straight line for what seemed like years made Naruto realise that actually, he had no idea where they were going and how they were going to find this Takeru guy.

"Hey! Kakashi sensei! You haven't even told us where we're going..." Naruto shouted over the wind.

"Everyone halt," Kakashi said and the four ninja instantly stopped and descended to the ground.

"The sun is setting. We shouldn't travel through the night as we could easily get ambushed. If all goes well we'll reach the land of rice patties by tomorrow afternoon. The Intel division say that that's where Takeru will strike next. We should set up camp here and set off at dawn," he explained.

"Didn't Lady Tsunade say that Takeru was attacking small shinobi villages? There aren't any shinobi in the land of rice patties, are there?" Sakura questioned.

"You're right there aren't. We believe that Takeru will attempt to attack the feudal lord of the land of rice patties as he has been supporting the leaf with financial funds for the upcoming war. Our mission will be to wait for him to arrive and kill him when he does. Is that clear?" The ninja nodded and began to set up their tents while Kakashi went to gather some firewood.

The night had approached quickly and the ninja sat around the fire, eating some of the provisions that they've brought from the village. They all sat in silence. The mission clearly started to have an effect on them. The danger was incredible and each of them had been thinking of ways to defeat a ninja of such a high calibre. They all wondered if they were strong enough; whether they had the ability to survive this mission. The chances of that seemed minute, even with a ninja such as Kakashi on their team.

"So what're we going to do?" Naruto finally asked.

"I'm not sure to be honest… Our best chance of winning is probably to distract him while Neji blocks the chakra network in his arms with his gentle fist. The other thing of course would be to capture him with my mangekyo sharingan, although that would be risky since I would need time to recuperate. So the only realistic strategy would be to block his chakra network. What do you think of that?" Kakashi asked. The ninja sat for a few more minutes, considering this idea; the flames illuminating their faces eerily.

"It's as good a chance as we'll ever have," Neji finally said. Everyone nodded solemnly.

"That's that then. All of you go to bed and rest for tomorrow. I'll stay out here and keep watch," Kakashi said and with that the younger ninja retired to their tents.

The morning was cold and a faint mist hung in the air. The ninja packed their equipment and left it by a nearby tree to pick up on the way back. They couldn't afford to be carrying any extra weight.

"This mist is…Dodgy. With the weather as it was for the last few weeks, the mist shouldn't be here…" Kakashi noted. With that there was a sudden explosion less than a few meters away. Kakashi shouted for the other ninja to gather around him and cover each direction. BANG. Another paper bomb. Splinters flew from nearby trees and cut the ninjas' cheeks.

"NEJI. USE YOUR BYAKUGAN. GIVE ME THE ENEMY'S LOCATION. HE CAN'T BE ABLE TO SEE ANY BETTER THAN WE CAN IN THIS MIST," Kakashi screamed in between fits of coughs from the smoke created by the paper bombs.

Neji wove a brief hand sign and shouted 'Byakugan'. The veins on either side of his head suddenly became visible and he began scanning for the enemy.

"20 degrees north-west, ten meters away," Neji explained

"Naruto, Sakura Neji, take cover."

Kakashi's hands moved at lightning speed, making various hand signs: Horse, Tiger, Ram, Monkey, Boar, Horse and Tiger "FIRE STYLE: FIREBALL JUTSU." He put together his two index fingers in front of his mouth and blew, releasing a giant fireball, heading straight for the tree where the ninja was located. The mist lifted. And instantly the ninja ran towards the now disintegrated and burnt tree.

"No body. It was a clone," Kakashi said.

"That's true. The chakra network of a clone is always different to that of a real person. I detected it with my Byakugan but didn't have the time to mention it amidst the havoc," Neji explained.

"The enemy knows we're here. We must hurry to the land of rice patties. The feudal lord is in danger. Scatter," Kakashi shouted and the ninja resumed their journey.

The Feudal Lord's house stood tall in the tiny village, every inch of the perimeter guarded by an intimidating guard. As the four ninja approached the front gate they were stopped by two soldiers, both wielding large swords. Kakashi simply handed them a mission confirmation letter and the guards bid them to enter.

"You're finally here. I was worried that those rogue ninja would get here before you, please take a seat," the Feudal Lord said. He sat on small pillow in front of a small table laid with five cups of tea. The ninja sat opposite the feudal lord and Kakashi began explaining what had happened.

"We were ambushed by a clone on our way here. The ninja must be nearby. We will keep a close eye on you for the next few days or ultimately until the ninja arrive."

"I am very grateful to you leaf ninja, please make yourselves at home," the feudal lord replied and called a guard to show them to their rooms.

The rooms of the ninja were located on the upper floor of the house to give them a good view of the surrounding area. Kakashi told them to do whatever they needed to do in the next hour and a patrol would take place into the late hours of the morning.

Everything seemed fine for the next few days; no sign of enemy ninja. Naruto felt sceptical that anything would happen now, it's been three days and no one did as much as knock on the feudal lords' door. That is until screams from the village pierced the air. He instantly ran to get Kakashi, Sakura and Neji. They gathered by a large window in the hallway that had the best view of the village. Bolts of lightning struck houses. Screaming mothers and weeping babies ran towards the guarded palace of the lord. The cries of children losing their mothers created a deep sadness, almost anger within the ninja.

"Get him," Kakashi whispered and broke the window with a kunai, jumping out instantly. The others followed.

Running through the village made tears trickle down Sakura's cheeks; the destruction, the pain and the anger of the villagers was something she perhaps hadn't been prepared for when accepting the mission.

"Byakugan!" The veins once again appeared on the sides of Neji's head.

"He's not far from here. No more than 40 meters," Neji said. The ninja simply ran after him through the chaos in the village. Takeru will pay for this. This is the one thing Neji was certain of. Even if it killed him.

The man responsible stood calmly by a burning cottage. Simply weaving hand signs and causing a lightning storm. A hidden leaf head band was slung lazily around his neck. Kakashi never imagined that someone could be so proficient with the lightning style. Not even he himself could do something like that.

"Stop right now!" Kakashi screamed and Takeru stopped weaving hand signs and simply look at Kakashi. Seemingly unnerved by the sudden appearance of the four ninja.

"Someone who causes such destruction has no right to possess the hidden leaf head band. You're a disgrace to your village," Kakashi sneered.

"Well. Well. If it isn't Kakashi Hatake? The famous copy ninja and the son of the white fang. What might you been doing here on such a fine evening? And who are these kids?" Takeru questioned, looking at the young ninja mockingly. Kakashi hadn't answered. He simply appeared behind Takeru's back, already wielding a lightning blade and his sharingan revealed from behind his head band. Kakashi's hand jerked forward, aiming for Takeru, who simply sidestepped the attack and kicked him from behind, sending Kakashi flying into a pile of blackened wood. He stood back up immediately and went straight for Takeru's neck.

Seeing Kakashi sensei crash into a pile of wood filled the three young ninja with a new fear. Sakura however, was determined not to be dead weight on yet another mission and she charged at Takeru, hoping that her chakra enhanced strength would be enough to damage him.

Naruto, as enthusiastic as every summoned a shadow clone and it spun chakra into a ball in his hand. Naruto charged at Takeru, not wanting to see his comrades die on the battlefield. He couldn't possibly repel all the attacks, could he? Regardless, he charged forward screaming 'RASENGAN'.

Neji had to stay behind. His job wasn't to attack head on. He had to wait for the right moment and block the opponent's chakra network. No matter how much he wanted to sink a fist in Takeru's face. His chances would be increased if he was behind his opponent, so Neji ran in a circle until he was facing Takeru's back and waited for the right moment.

"Earth style: mud wall," Takeru shouted and the ninja simply crashed into the Earth shield that appeared in front of Takeru, except Kakashi who instinctively wove the hand signs for his chidori and charged at the wall with full force. His hand broke through the wall, missing Takeru's face by an inch.

It was time. Neji charged at Takeru's back, who was now occupied by Kakashi since he had broken through his mud wall. Neji knew he only had a second to land the critical blow. He aimed for Takeru's arms. Disabling his chakra network in his arms would stop him from using any more jutsu, whereas hitting him in the back would hurt him, but wouldn't kill him, therefore give him an opportunity to finish one of them off with his extensive range of jutsu.

"Gentle fist," Neji shouted as his palms made contact with Takeru's right arm. Takeru spun around instantly, kicking Neji in the gut and weaving a hand sign with only his left hand.

"Fire style: searing migraine." Instantly a stream of fire enveloped Neji, scorching his skin. He felt weak. His strength was escaping him rapidly. His consciousness wavered. His eyes closed.

"Neji," Naruto screamed and closed onto Takeru, swinging his fists wildly, all of which Takeru had blocked easily, even with a limp right arm.

"You four have proved to be more bothersome than I had anticipated. I am almost impressed," Takeru sneered and wove yet another hand sign.

"Water style: water prison jutsu." Kakashi was suddenly trapped in a large ball of water, struggling to hold his breath; his eyes closing slowly. Naruto knew they didn't have much time. He had to do something. And fast.

Naruto charged at Takeru once again with a massive ball of chakra in his hand. This time it would hit. Takeru couldn't use any jutsu because he had to maintain the water prison with his only able hand. Charging forward, Naruto noticed that Takeru didn't seem to be moving away to dodge the attack. That was until he jumped away from Naruto at the last minutes, breaking the water prison in the process. Kakashi collapsed to the floor, unconscious, slowly bleeding to death. His body was covered in strange bite marks. They were similar bites to the ones that Kisame's summoning animals caused.

"Water style: water dragon jutsu." A dragon made entirely of water had crashed into Naruto, making him fall to the ground. Takeru stood over him. This is where he would die. Sakura was tending to Kakashi and Neji was unconscious. Maybe he should have refused to go on this mission when Tsunade gave him the chance. Takeru's arm became enveloped by a layer of lightning chakra. It was similar to the Jutsu Kakashi used. He smiled sinisterly at Naruto and his hand jerked down.

Neji had regained consciousness, his body covered with burns. Slowly, he got up and saw Takeru standing over Naruto, about to attack with some sort of lightning style jutsu. This was his chance. He gathered all the strength he could muster and charged at Takeru.

"EIGHT TRIGRAMS: SIXTY-FOUR PALMS." The attack had struck Takeru square in the back; the force of the attack making him spit blood onto the floor. All his chakra points were now blocked and he would die in the next thirty seconds. Takeru coughed on the floor, trying to get on his knees. Blood was continuously escaping from his mouth.

"How can you support the ninja alliance? How can you trust people who have killed so many of our comrades? My parents were killed by ninja from the hidden stone. I could never work with them knowing what they have done," Takeru struggled to maintain a steady voice.

"Well now you won't have to," Neji replied simply and helped Naruto up. They both ran to Sakura and Kakashi sensei, leaving Takeru to die.

"Sakura, how's Kakashi sensei doing?" Naruto asked.

"Not well… He's in a coma; with the amount of blood he's lost it's unlikely that he will survive, even with my medical ninjutsu." Tears streamed down her face, her sobs loud.

"Shadow clone jutsu," Naruto shouted and a clone appeared beside him.

"My clone will take Kakashi sensei back to the hidden leaf hospital. Grandma Tsunade will patch him up and he'll be good as new." Although… he wasn't so convinced.

Once again Naruto found himself back in Tsunade's office with Sakura and Neji beside, their sadness evident. Standing in front of the Hokage and explaining what happened on the mission was hard, but Tsunade was understanding and didn't push the ninja too hard.

"That was a mission well done. You have successfully eliminated one of the leaf's rogue ninja, you should be proud," she said. Neither Naruto, Sakura nor Neji felt like accepting the compliment or considered their mission as 'successful'. Their comrade has certainly died in battle, so they simply turned around and headed for the door.

"And one more thing," Tsunade told the young ninja.

"Kakashi sensei is safe and alive. He is recuperating in the hidden leaf hospital and is being well looked after." She smiled and continued "Go on, you should probably visit him." The three ninja smiled and ran through the door, heading straight to the hospital.

The three young ninja stormed through Kakashi's hospital room, only to find him reading another book from Jiraiya's make out series. He simply raised a welcoming hand to greet them.

"Well hello there. Didn't expect to see you guys here," Kakashi smiled and the ninja gathered around his hospital bed

"We were so worried! Why would you be so reckless? I thought you'd be more responsible as a Jonin, Kakashi sensei," Sakura began.

"Cut me some slack… I only woke up a few hours ago. But I must say, you guys did a very good job out there. I'm proud of all of you," He replied. The ninja smiled and filled in Kakashi on what happened after he lost consciousness. Soon after, the ninja had gone home to catch up on some sleep. It had been a long week.

The end.


End file.
